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Comic Book News | Written by Ed Fortune 21/01/2015

Marvel Comics Rebooting Their Universe

Marvel Comics have announced that they are going to reboot their current comic continuity, following the events of their forthcoming SECRET WARSlimited series.

During a live "Secret Wars Kick-Off" press event at New York City's Midtown Comics, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso and Senior Vice President of Publishing and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort stated that the eight-issue SECRET WARS series will spell the end for the Marvel Universe.

The mainstream Marvel Universe will be smashed up to form ‘Battleworld’ as part of the SECRET WARS series. Another popular Marvel Comics setting, the Ultimate universe, will also be broken apart and added to the mix as part of the same story. Other alternate realities, spun-off from the core setting, will also form part of Battleworld and the over-arching SECRET WARS storyline.

After the SECRET WARS arc has ended, the Marvel universe will be relaunched as ‘All New Marvel’, with elements from Marvel’s 54 years of continuity cherry-picked to form a new but familiar world. Various ongoing lines, including AVENGERS and NEW AVENGERS, will end in April and form part of the post-SECRET WARS relaunch. The move promises to change and improve many existing Marvel lines and this has been planned for some time.

Time will tell as to how much of this announcement is hyperbole. Marvel’s direct rivals, DC, have rebooted their core comic universe multiple time with varied success. Though this is the first time Marvel have attempted such a radical change, major shifts in the Marvel comic book universe are not uncommon.

This reboot is unlikely to affect the Marvel Cinematic Universe any time soon, except of course to make the comic books more accessible to casual readers.